Striped Kelpfish

Posted on March 25, 2022 by tspuckler

While tidepooling in the Bay Area of California, I came across this super cool creature that looks like seaweed.

The Striped Kelpfish has an elongated and compressed body. It is brown, green or red in color and can be weakly striped or mottled in darker colors. It reaches a maximum length of 9 inches, with females being larger than males.

These neat fish are found in intertidal zones within algae beds including in tidal pools and within seaweed and the kelp canopy mid-water at depths up to 30 feet.

Kelpfish are known to change colors to adapt to their surroundings, they do this to hunt for their food, which is other small fish, crustaceans and mollusks…or to avoid becoming eaten.

They are considered to be an important component of the food chain preyed upon by a large variety of fish, sea birds and marine mammals.

The Striped Kelpfish is native to the Pacific Coast of North America from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico.

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Penpoint Gunnel

Posted on March 18, 2022 by tspuckler

This was an exciting find while tidepooling in California. The creature’s color can be varying shades of green, maroon or brown. It is commonly 4 to 8 inches long, though it can grow up to 18 inches. It is most easily identified by the dark bar below each eye.

This is an elongated fish with long, low fins that tends to camouflage itself by matching the color of the seaweed where it hides. While Penpoint Gunnels cannot change color, they appear to be able to recognize and select the vegetation for which their color is a good match.

In addition to hiding in seaweed, they also hide under rocks – including rocks out of the water at low tide. These fish are capable of breathing air while out of the water. The “penpoint” refers to the first spine of the anal fin. It is large and grooved like a fountain pen point.

Like most Gunnels, the Penpoint Gunnel feeds on small crustaceans and mollusks. This North American Pacific Coast fish ranges from Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska to Santa Barbara Island in southern California.

Of all the cool creatures that I encountered on my California visit, this one was my favorite.

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Kelp Crab

Posted on March 11, 2022 by tspuckler

We found several of these super cool crustaceans while tidepooling in California. Like other members in their family, they have very tough exoskeletons to protect them from predators.

These crabs belong to a large group called “Spider Crabs.” They generally have long legs with relatively small body. Their carapace (back shell) somewhat resembles a five-pointed sheriff’s badge; it is smooth and is longer than it is wide.

This species is usually dark brown. Kelp Crabs, as their name implies, are typically associated with their namesake plant and they are colored much like kelp. Their legs end in sharp points, which are used to cling to slippery surfaces.

These creatures are herbivores most of the time. During the Summer they nip off bits of brown algae such as kelp, rockweed and sea cabbage, as well as several types of red algae. When the algae die back during Winter, they turn to an animal diet, including small mussels and barnacles.

Kelp Crabs are found in rocky intertidal areas, kelp beds and around structures such as pier pilings. In the Fall, adults move to deeper water where they congregate, feed and mate. They use kelp beds not only for food, but also as shelter against predators such as Sea Otters.

These creatures will sometimes attach pieces of kelp to the points on their carapace, saving them to eat later. While these long-legged invertebrates look delicate, they are stronger than you may think and are able to give forceful pinches with their front claws.

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Smoothhead Sculpin

Posted on March 4, 2022 by tspuckler

We found this cool creature while tidepooling in California. One thing that is noticeable about these particular sculpins is their massive heads, especially when compared to their tidepool peers.

This is a common small fish in pools in the intertidal zone of rocky coasts, flitting from one hiding place to another. It shows great homing ability, returning each time the tide recedes to the pool in which it has taken up residence.

The Smoothhead Sculpin is a predator, feeding on small invertebrates such as isopods, amphipods, gastropod mollusks, worms and barnacles – as well as insects that happen to fall into the water.

When the seas are rough, it moves closer the shore. It can leave the water and breathe air, exchanging both oxygen and carbon dioxide, while hiding in a damp spot. This was an awesome Golden State find.

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Nuttall’s Linanthus

Posted on February 25, 2022 by tspuckler

While hiking on Mount Charleston in southern Nevada, I noticed the small flowering plant growing close to the ground.

This member of the Phlox Family is a sweetly aromatic, clump-forming perennial with a round mound of stems clad with a distinctive whorled foliage.

Native to much of the southwestern United States, it lives on dry, open or lightly wooded, often rocky slopes from the foothills to well up into the mountains.

Nuttall’s Linanthus’ flowers are very similar to many other members of the Phlox Family. They are white or pale cream in color, about half an inch across and have five unnotched petals, centered on a yellow tube.

This species was named in 1870 from a specimen collected by famed botanist and Harvard teacher, Thomas Nuttall.

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Western Coachwhip

Posted on February 18, 2022 by tspuckler

This is a classic American serpent of the southwestern deserts. It is active in the daytime, extremely alert and very speedy. I’ve come across it a few times on my visits to the Mojave Desert.

Western Coachwhips actively hunt and eat lizards, small birds and rodents, subduing their prey by grasping it and holding it down with their jaws, rather than using constriction.

They are curious reptiles with excellent eyesight and are known to “periscope,” which is to raise their heads above the level of the grass or rocks to see what is around them. They are often seen foraging in the hottest hours of a summer day.

A mature Western Coachwhip may measure three to eight feet in length, though they average about four feet. They are a slender-bodied snake with a long and thinly tapered tail.

This reptile has a range as to what it looks like in physical appearance; its dominant color often blends in with the soil color of its habitat, helping to camouflage the snake. The common name “Coachwhip” comes from these snakes often having a black head and neck, resembling a whip handle and large scales resembling a braided whip.

For habitat, the Western Coachwhip prefers relatively open territory, such as sand dunes, prairielands, desert scrub, rocky hillsides and open pine and oak woodlands.

The coachwhip is one of the longest native snakes found in North America. Out west it is also known as the “Red Racer” and it is a thrilling herp to encounter in the field.

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Nevada Admiral

Posted on February 11, 2022 by tspuckler

This cool creature has a very limited range and I’ve only been lucky enough to encounter it a few times. The Nevada Admiral occurs only in the Spring Mountains in southern Nevada.

This insect belongs to a large family known as the Brushfooted Butterflies, which are distinguished by their reduced brush-like forelegs that are curled up and not functional for walking. It’s bold black and white pattern make for a distinctive “look,” with white bands replacing the orange bands of the Red Admiral found in my home state of Ohio.

The Nevada Admiral’s habitat is deciduous forests, streamsides in coniferous forests, aspen groves, as well as small towns and suburbs. Like the Red Admiral, male Nevada Admirals often perch in a specific spot, waiting for females to come into their territory and chasing out other males.

Adults feed on tree sap, carrion and flower nectar, while their larva consume mostly aspen, cottonwood and willow leaves. It was neat to see these strikingly marked inhabitants on Mount Charleston when I visited the Silver State.

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White-tailed Antelope Squirrel

Posted on February 4, 2022 by tspuckler

This is a fun mammal to observe on my visits to the Las Vegas Area. The White-tailed Antelope Squirrel is commonly seen in arid habitats throughout the southwestern United States.

This is a species of ground squirrel. It has a brown-to-gray fur with two white stripes running from the shoulder to the hind end. Its belly and underside of the tail is white and there is a black stripe on the tail.

White-tailed Antelope Squirrels tend to be active during the cooler parts of the daylight hours, avoiding midday as much as possible. They forage for food on the ground, in trees or shrubs. During foraging, they may stop for a break in the shade to avoid heat from the sun.

These animals will use burrows of other rodents, such as kangaroo rats, for shelter and will make numerous burrows of their own. Common habitats include desert succulent shrub, riparian and wash areas. They also occur in chaparral and grassland.

Different food sources are consumed at different parts of the year. During the Spring, greens are widely available, so they constitute the bulk of their diet (about 60%). In the Autumn, when greens are scarce, seeds and fruits comprise most of their diet. Insects are consumed when they are encountered.

White-tailed Antelope Squirrels have been known to sound shrill alarm calls when predators are nearby to warn their relatives of incoming danger.

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Western Whiptail

Posted on January 28, 2022 by tspuckler

This is a classic desert species of lizard that ranges throughout most of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has been one of the most commonly encountered reptiles on my visits to the Mojave Desert, but it can often be just a blur as it races across the desert floor.

It is in the family of lizards Teiidae, which also includes Tegus and Racerunners. Western Whiptails have long, slender bodies, with small, grainy scales on their backs and larger rectangular scales on their bellies. They can grow to a foot in total length, but two-thirds of that length is their tail.

The Western Whiptail actively forages on the ground often near the base of vegetation and hunts a wide variety of ground-dwelling invertebrates, including grasshoppers, beetles, ants, termites, insect larvae and spiders. They flick out their tongues and often probe cracks and crevices and dig in loose soil as they search for food.

This lizard occurs in a variety of habitats including valley foothills, chaparral, desert riparian areas, desert scrub, desert washes and grasslands. I usually see then in flat, open areas and in some instances they make their home in areas cleared by man.

These reptiles are capable of running very fast and when pursued, escape into their underground burrows. They have the ability of autotomizing (dropping) their tails as a method of evading of predation attempts.

Western Whiptails are fun lizards to experience in the wild. If you stay a few yards away from them, they will go about their lives, moving almost constantly, while searching for food.

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White Ibis

Posted on January 21, 2022 by tspuckler

While visiting Disney World in November, I saw a fair number of these rather conspicuous birds. They are about two feet tall and have a wingspan of about three feet. They are entirely white, except for their black-edged wings, which may not be noticeable when they are at rest, but is easily seen when the bird is in flight.

The White Ibis is of the most numerous wading birds in Florida and is common elsewhere in the southeast. It is highly sociable during all seasons, roosting and feeding in flocks and nesting in large colonies. In Florida, over 30,000 have been counted in a single breeding colony.

This bird forages by walking slowly in shallow water and its sweeping bill from side to side and probing at bottom. It also forages on land, especially on mud or in short grass. Its diet is quite variable, but crayfish and crabs are its major food items. It swallows its prey whole. The parents feed their offspring by regurgitating food from their stomachs.

The White Ibis lives in a variety of coastal freshwater, saltwater and brackish marshes, rice fields, mudflats, mangrove swamps and lagoons. The birds build their nests in low trees and thickets, from two to 15 feet off the ground. Both male and female cooperate in building the nest, which is usually a platform of sticks, grass or reeds.

A recent cover story in Audubon magazine indicates that these birds are adaptable and “street smart.” The opportunistic creatures are moving into suburban neighborhoods, looking for (and finding) worms and other food in parks, irrigated lawns of subdivisions and golf courses.

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Tim Spuckler's Blog

Reptile Ramblings and More

Yearly Archives: 2022

Striped Kelpfish

Penpoint Gunnel

Kelp Crab

Smoothhead Sculpin

Nuttall’s Linanthus

Western Coachwhip

Nevada Admiral

White-tailed Antelope Squirrel

Western Whiptail

White Ibis